


Breakfast of Champions

by FoxLight



Series: The Strawberry Shortcake Chronicles [13]
Category: Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 00:51:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13752795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoxLight/pseuds/FoxLight
Summary: Jim and Nomura continue to bond within the Darkland's dungeons.





	Breakfast of Champions

The steady drip of water along the cave walls had lulled the Trollhunter to sleep at some point during the long and harrowing expanse of time that encompassed his stay within the Darklands. He couldn’t tell whether it was day or night here, didn’t know which way was up or down. The only certainty he knew was that Gunmar wanted to kill him—no, worse than kill, take his very essence—and would stop at nothing until he’d finally broken him down. 

Until he and his loved ones were nothing but bones: this, he thought, as his eyes fluttered open against the cold and unforgiving surface of the cavern’s floor. He grunted and stretched, and then rose as he rubbed at his eyes.

 _Another day in paradise._ he thought, trying to ignore the groaning of his stomach as it gnawed at itself in hunger.

“Good morning, princess,” a familiar voice slithered through the hole along the wall, along with a scraping sound. “Here’s your cut. Eat up.”

Something akin to excitement swept through him at the sound of her scraping voice. He reached through the hole to grab the bowl she’d slid through it. “You don’t have to give me half of your food _every_ morning, Nomura.”

“Yeah, well, it’s either this or go crazy when you die and I have to start talking to myself again.”

The hint of a laugh escaped him, and then he lifted the bowl to face. “Oh, wow, that is—,” he gagged, “that is a smell, Nomura.”

“Gotta eat your Wheaties, runt. Just pinch your nose and get it over with.”

“Ugh,” he winced as he swallowed the slimy concoction. “It tastes like moldy diapers and--“ he gulped, “and snot.”

“Keep it in,” she snapped when she heard him choke on his own bile. “Or Gunmar will win in his efforts to starve you.”

This seemed to spur the boy enough to see him clearing his throat and knocking back the rest of the vile meal. Once he was done, he tossed the bowl back through the hole and wrapped an arm around his metal-clad knees.

“I would do anything right now for one of mom’s pancakes.” Jim spoke once his stomach had finally accepted its fate. “I don’t care if she messes up the recipe half of the time: burnt, salty, slathered in too much syrup…it doesn’t matter. It tastes like home.”

“She certainly can’t make tea.” Nomura offered. “When I drugged her, it was hard for me to pretend to like it.”

“She tries.” He said with a heartfelt swallow. “It doesn’t matter how tired she is, or how unhappy, she’s always tried to make my life better. Heck, she strives to make everyone’s lives better. Every day she’s out there saving people, giving them an extra day in this world— for once I have the chance to give that back to her. I can’t fail this. Knowing that I’m gone right now…it’s probably tearing her apart. I _have_ to get home.”

“Well, you’re right about one thing. It’s probably tearing her apart.”

“Thanks,” he said sourly.

“I’m just being honest." She defended. "The bond between a mother and her child is strong. I have seen loss in many forms, but seeing a mother lose her baby — doesn’t matter what age the kid is — it’s always the hardest to witness.”

Unseen by her, he bit his lip. Then, hesitantly: “Did you...did you ever have any kids?”

The changeling's green, glowing eyes widened, though she kept them hidden behind the thick stone wall. There was another period of silence before she responded. “I can’t.”

The armor clinked as he sat up. “You can’t have kids?”

“No, little Gynt, and though they disgust me most of the time, it would be a lie to say that I never wanted one. It’s one of the many curses that come with being a half-breed.”

The cogs of his mind whirred so briskly that she could nearly hear the grinding. “So, Strickler...?”

“None of us.” She threw a stone against the wall. “We are created. We do not procreate.”

“Huh,” he said, and scraped a jut of crystal against the floor. “He always seemed so good with teenagers. I just assumed he must have had some of his own.”

She laughed at that. “Nah, but he certainly took to you. I guess I can see why, now. Don’t let it go to your head, but your pretty bright. Got a solid heart. That’s rare. Trust me, I’ve been around a few centuries.”

“Thanks,” she heard him scrape a hand against the back of his neck. “I guess I get it from mom.”

“Yeah, he took to her, too. Bular suspected that he’d gone soft a while back. First with you, but then when he met the redhead everything just went to seed. You can’t grasp the gravity of what he’s done. The whole world knows that he gave you that eye. I’m in this hell-hole and even _I_ found out. All changelings are at risk now. Gunmar thinks we’ve been stuck with the fleshlings too long. In his eyes, if someone like Stricklander can turn, it means any of us can.”

“What do you mean ‘someone like him'? Was he really that bad of a guy?”

“There no good or bad here, just what needs to be done to make it to your next breath. He’s taken a lot of breaths, kid. This isn’t the place for a heart of gold. You’ll see.”

“I’m not sure I want to see,” his sigh echoed through the chamber. “I just…no offense, but I _really_ wish he hadn’t turned out to be a changeling. Believe it or not, before all of this Trollhunting business, I actually enjoyed his company. Having him become part of our family would have been really cool, and I could have used his advice on so many human issues, like when I was nervous about kissing Claire. Blinky and Drall are great, but they don’t know as much about the human world; I know he would have said the right thing. At the very least, I wouldn’t have ended up with some Grit-Shaka almost getting me killed.”

“Grit-Shaka?” She pinched her clawed fingers against her forehead. “Let me guess, Drall gave it to you.”

The Trollhunter blinked as he stared at the stalactites on the ceiling, one hand on his now-aching stomach. “How did you know?”

“He tried something similar with me once. It made him look like even more of an idiot than he already was.” She huffed. “Unfortunately, I have a thing for idiots, so it worked.”

“What happened between you two?”

A sinister chortle filled the humid air. “I’m a changeling. What do you think happened? Bular found out, Kanjigar found out. It wasn’t a pretty story. I’m lucky I made it out alive. Got old tall, green, and grumpy to thank for that, I guess; not that he didn’t do it in part to fluff his own feathers. He told Bular it was _his_ idea to get me close to the Trollhunter’s son for a bit of espionage. Boy was Drall mad when he found _that_ out. Wasn’t true, but I let him believe it. It was the safest thing for both of us.”

“So all this time he’s been thinking that you conned him, and you didn’t?”

The changeling cackled. “Love is always a con, especially amongst the young, and I was young for what I was at the time. It’s better to go on without the trouble of attachment. Less sticky.”

“That sounds really lonely.”

“It beats getting hurt.” He heard her stone knees knocking together. “Just look at Strickler and Doctor doe-eyes. You told me about the binding spell he used. I bet it put them both in a world of pain when she found out.”

“Well, I don’t think they had much time to talk it out. Everything went by so fast with Angor, and once we got to Trollmarket we didn’t let him near her until it was time for Vendel to undo the enchantment. She doesn’t even remember what happened. The incantation erased her memory.”

“That doesn’t sound right.”

“I know, and he got to walk away without the guilt. But in the end, it did sort of work out in my favor. I don’t think I was ready to have my mom find out about all of this; she’s under enough stress as it is.”

“No, child, I mean it doesn’t make sense.” Her voice scraped through the hole. “You guys used the book of Ga-huel, right?” 

She heard Jim sit up. “Yeah?”

“Spells are something we all learn about in this realm. Only the most powerful magic-bearers can perform the rituals to create or undo them, but every changeling is taught to read the language. It’s handy to know what to expect if you’re under an enchantment, right? I’ve had plenty of time to peruse those pages. Loss of memory doesn’t occur with the breaking of a binding spell. Emotional and physical pain? Oh yeah. Memory? No.”

“But Vendel read it straight from the page!” 

Black strands of hair wavered as Nomura shook her head. “You believe what you want, but it’s not in there. Something bigger was at play. If Strickler didn’t say anything, then you can bet your armored hiney he was in on it. Probably struck a deal with Vendel.”

“A deal for what? Vendel doesn’t strike me as the type to bargain.”

“Look at you, your armor." She explained. "You have what you need to wound Gunmar. It’s a fool’s chance, but at least it’s a chance--one not even the likes of Vendel would refuse.”

“Why would Strickler do that?”

“Less sticky.” The repeated words came in a hiss. “Of course, I doubt he expected you to jump into the Darklands like Don Quixote: all chivalry and no sense. Now that Gunmar knows you have that armor _and_ that you opened the bridge, we’re all dead meat.”

“I told you, I’m getting us both out of here alive.”

“Okay,” she huffed in clear disbelief. 

“You’ll see,” he said for what seemed like the thousandth time. “I’m not a changeling or a troll; Gunmar hasn’t dealt with the likes of a human in centuries, and he’s _never_ dealt with a human Trollhunter. He doesn’t know what to expect from me. _He’s_ scared. If we work together, we can keep that fear valid.”

She didn’t respond

“Thanks for breakfast.” he said after a time, measuring his breath as he tried to meditate on his next fight. “First the stinky fruit, now this…I won’t ever forget what you did for me here.”

“Don’t mention it,” another pebble hit the glowing bars of her cage. “Just try not to let my efforts got to waste.”

A small and secret swell of delight tugged at his lips. His stomach groaned again, but this time not as loudly as when he’d woken, filled as it was with the promise of another day.

"You got it," he said and closed his too-blue eyes. "I _won't_ let you down."

Her own toothy smile was lost to the darkness.


End file.
